BLOOMINGTON – Southwest Airlines offers at least two nonstop flights each day between Tampa Bay and Indianapolis. Tom Allen’s recruiting strategy alone might keep them full for the foreseeable future.

Allen signed three more 2018 recruits this week, closing out his first full class as IU football coach with 26 new faces. Nearly one-third of those — including all three February signees — will be heading north from Florida.

“It’s just such a talented state,” Allen said Thursday.

No one could accuse Allen of neglecting his in-state roots. The former Ben Davis head coach took three Indiana prospects in 2018. His first commitment in the class was in-state (Jordan Jusevitch), and the Hoosiers signed last year’s IndyStar Mr. Football (Reese Taylor).

But Allen’s coaching roots trace back to the Sunshine State as well. And considering the year-plus he’s spent as IU’s coach has seen the Hoosiers add more than a dozen Florida prospects, it’s fair to assume this trend won’t wane anytime soon.

Allen began his coaching career in Florida, as both a head coach and defensive coordinator at the high school level. After stops in Indiana, Tennessee, Iowa, Arkansas and Mississippi, he returned to the Tampa area for one season as defensive coordinator at South Florida, before being hired at IU.

His son, Thomas, excelled as a linebacker at Tampa Plant, before signing with Indiana in 2017. Allen added two of his teammates, Big Ten all-freshman wide receiver Whop Philyor and safety Juwan Burgess, late in that class as well. And 2018 managed to widen the pipeline even further.

The Hoosiers signed eight Florida prospects this cycle — five of them from the Tampa/Sarasota area.

CLOSE

Career yardage leaders in passing, rushing and receiving for IU football
Scott Horner/IndyStar

Allen and his staff persuaded quarterback Michael Penix Jr. to pick Indiana over Florida State during the early signing window in December. Then they repeated the trick with linebacker James Miller this week. They also took Penix’s Tampa Bay Tech teammate, defensive lineman Jonathan King, on Wednesday.

Devon Matthews, a safety from Jacksonville Jean Ribault, got bumped up to four stars on 247Sports’ in-house rankings. Both Penix and Miami Southridge defensive end James Head enrolled early.

The Hoosiers took both the 2017 offensive (Penix) and defensive (Miller) players of the year in Hillsborough County, where Tampa is located. Thomas Allen was county defensive player of the year there in 2016.

According to the Tampa Bay Times, IU landed four of its top 25 area seniors in this class, more than Florida, Florida State, South Florida or Miami.

Allen is fond of talking about emphasizing a six-hour radius in recruiting, considering talent centers such as Indianapolis, Columbus, Chicago and Cincinnati part of his program’s natural footprint. Florida is well more than six hours away by car. Allen considers it the exception.

“It’s about relationships, and always will be in recruiting,” Allen said. “We recruit those areas like they are within our six-hour radius. Because of that, the relationships are getting stronger and stronger.”

He said he has seen Indiana’s profile rise in what is perhaps the most talent-rich state in the country annually. A successful track record helps.

Just in the last few seasons, Florida has sent standouts such as Bobby Richardson, Jonathan Crawford, Ricky Jones and Nick Westbrook to Bloomington. Philyor and Westbrook should figure prominently into Indiana’s plans for next season on offense. Crawford is one of its defensive leaders. And several of those signees, including Miller, Penix and Head, could compete for immediate playing time.

“When they see guys from their area come up to Indiana and have success, that resonates strongly,” Allen said. “Those are guys they can relate to.”

Familiarity has increased organically. Allen said he hears from recruits who were impressed by the Hoosiers’ battling performance in a tight game-turned-loss against Ohio State in last year’s season opener, for example.

“It got people’s attention,” Allen said. “We didn’t finish the way we wanted to, but they saw what we were building here.”

That attention has crystallized in the form of 17 Florida signees in the past two classes. Based on Allen’s comments Thursday, the Hoosiers only want those numbers to grow.